The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Woman naxalite killed in encounter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Woman naxalite killed in encounter

By Our Special Correspondent

ONGOLE, JAN. 8. A woman member of the Gundlakamma local guerella squad of the CPI (Maoist), Lathakka, was killed by the police in an encounter at J. Pullalacheruvu village of Racharla mandal in Prakasam district, 200 km from here, today. It is the first encounter in Prakasam district after the State Government has initiated peace talks with the Maoists.

It is stated that the police went to the village at 7.30 a.m. as part of their routine visit. A group of naxalites waiting on the outskirts opened fire at the police who returned the fire killing one woman. While the police nabbed one member, Vijay, others fled the scene.

The police recovered one 303 rifle, one 410 musket, two claymore mines, 12 detonators and eight kitbags from the scene.

The last encounter was in April when two naxalites were killed at Pedaraveedu in Prakasam district. The police, however, unearthed a series of landmines allegedly planted by Maoists in Yerragondapalem mandal last month.

The Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee vice-president, G. Venkata Rao, condemned the encounter, and felt that it would vitiate the ongoing peace talks between the Government and Maoists. In a press statement here he asked the Government to order an inquiry into the encounter by mediators. He asked the police to produce the nabbed naxalite before a magistrate immediately.

Fake encounter?

The North-East Area Commander of the CPI (Maoist), Sagar, alleged that the police had killed Lathakka in a fake encounter, and held the Giddalur Congress-I MLA, Pagadala Ramaiah, responsible for it.

He told The Hindu that the Government began encounters only to vitiate peace talks. Congress leaders would be held squarely responsible if the peace talks failed, he said.

According to Maoists, while 16 naxalites made good their escape, the police nabbed Latha (wife of Sagar) and Vijay. The whereabouts of another woman member were not known, they said. He alleged that the police caught her first and shot her dead later.

Ensuring peace: YSR

Our Hyderabad Staff Reporter writes: The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, asserted that maintenance of law and order was the responsibility of the Government and that the police-naxal encounters were part of the process of ensuring peace.

He was responding to queries from presspersons about the killing of naxalites in two encounters on successive days in Warangal and Prakasam on Friday and Saturday. "It was not as if the police were out to kill. While one naxalite was killed, the police did arrest one more in Warangal," he said. On Saturday's encounter, he said, he was yet to get details of the action.

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